5 cities win smart city grants

Five cities will be getting $250,000 in technology and consulting services as winners of the Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grant.

Austin, Texas; Indianapolis; Miami; Orlando, Fla.; and Philadelphia were the five winners announced on Feb. 8 after a months-long application process.

Each winning city will receive a readiness workshop where members of the government, public sector and nonprofits from the city will learn how they can best move forward with their smart city proposals. They will also receive services from a number of companies offering consulting and technologies such as internet of things tools and one year of free citywide hosted network communications.

“Breaking down the departmental silos is a key challenge in developing a smarter city,” Smart Cities Council Chairman Jesse Berst said. “Each of the winning cities has demonstrated the ability to work across departments to solve problems.” The winning solutions were:

Austin -- using technology to tackle challenges related to mobility and affordability.

The Smart City Council will monitor the progress that the cities make on their efforts.

The runners up were Birmingham, Ala.; Chula Vista, Calif.; Jersey City, N.J.; Newport News, Va.; and Providence, R.I. They will also receive advice from the Smart City Council.

About the Author

Matt Leonard is a reporter/producer at GCN.

Before joining GCN, Leonard worked as a local reporter for The Smithfield Times in southeastern Virginia. In his time there he wrote about town council meetings, local crime and what to do if a beaver dam floods your back yard. Over the last few years, he has spent time at The Commonwealth Times, The Denver Post and WTVR-CBS 6. He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received the faculty award for print and online journalism.